Abstract

With recent advancements in machine learning and interest in expanding the
“smart city”, various technology companies and car manufacturers have begun pour- ing billions of dollars into research and development of autonomous vehicles. While many companies are hard at work developing their own driverless cars, it is important to begin planning how these cars will communicate with one another and other in- frastructure. Because the safety of passengers and pedestrians are heavily dependent on these communications, the careful design and implementation of these networks is crucial. Blockchain is another technology that has amassed a great deal of attention in recent years. Founded on its peer-to-peer nature and lack of need for a trusted central authority, blockchain offers benefits such as integrity, security, and privacy to various industries. Both autonomous cars and blockchain have potential to be major industry disruptors in their own independent ways. This paper will analyze some benefits that blockchain technology could contribute to the ways autonomous vehicles will communicate, as well as some potential drawbacks to implementation.